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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29194023">From Now On</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Claudia/pseuds/Faye_Claudia'>Faye_Claudia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Where the Runaways are Running the Night [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Hiccup is scared of emotions, Inspired by The Greatest Showman (2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:02:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>943</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29194023</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Claudia/pseuds/Faye_Claudia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Cause from then, rubble<br/>What remains<br/>Can only be what's true<br/>If all was lost<br/>There's more I gained<br/>'Cause it led me back<br/>To you"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eret &amp; Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III &amp; Valka, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Stoick the Vast/Valka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Where the Runaways are Running the Night [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1110813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>From Now On</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In another life, perhaps, The Red Death would have presented a larger threat. If the riders had been younger, less experienced, had Valka not been by their side, had a million other factors been different, then maybe the battle would have been long fought and hard won, or perhaps, a worse outcome would have come to fruition. But, as things stood, Valka and Hiccup pinpointed the queen’s weakness in her wings almost immediately, and she went down hard and fast.</p><p>Perhaps he should have done this sooner, perhaps he should have freed Berk and the dragon nest from the oppressive rule of the greedy queen. It was done now though, and the worst injuries sustained were maybe a few light burns and a couple scrapes. Dagur, Heather and Eret clapped each other on the backs for a job well done, Heather taking over for Hiccup, making note of the now dead dragon’s anatomy. Astrid allowed one victory kiss that tasted of ash before she began giving orders for clean-up. A few wild dragons still hung around, and Hiccup asked Dagur to make sure they were there by choice not because of injury.</p><p>The Berk natives though, seemed to struggle with the fact that the battle was over. The villagers milled about in a confused mass, not having done much at all except for watch the riders. Even Snotlout and his gang seemed confused. Skaga mouthed “That’s it?” at Hiccup incredulously. He grinned back at her with a shrug. Gobber was still running around with his weaponised prosthetic arm screaming about killing “the beasties.”</p><p> Hiccup guided Toothless into a smooth landing in front of Stoick and his mom.</p><p>“I did tell you your men would be useless,” Valka teased in her lilting voice. Stoick grunted in reply and turned to Hiccup. Valka’s laughter stopped, and the air turned heavy. Hiccup hated tense moments, and his relationship with his dad had always been full of them. Toothless, it seemed too, because the Night Fury growled, curled himself around Hiccup and menacingly bared his teeth at the Viking chief.</p><p>“Woah, easy, bud,” Hiccup rested his hand on his best friend’s head, but Toothless refused to relax.</p><p>Much to everyone’s surprise though (except maybe Valka’s) Stoick addressed Toothless. “You were there for him when I wasn’t. Thank you.”</p><p>Hiccup couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t process what was being said. When his eyes met his father’s, he found eyes wet with emotion looking back at him. “I’m sorry, son” Stoick rasped, and Hiccup did what he’d been doing for nearly five years.</p><p>He mounted Toothless and flew off.</p><p><em>“You’re not my son,”</em> and <em>“I’m sorry son,”</em> echoed on a loop in his head as he pushed Toothless further, faster, higher. He needed to breathe, he needed to…he needed to- “Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggg!” An expression of pure emotion exited his lungs and was released into the sky. Toothless let out a startled plasma blast in response, and then started angling his wings downward, taking over steering as best he could. Hiccup let him, and the two of them landed on the island they had so many years ago named Itchy Armpit.</p><p>When Hiccup dismounted, Toothless wasted no time in rising up on his hindlegs, leaning into Hiccup and just flopping over, pushing Hiccup onto his back with the Night Fury on top of him.</p><p>“Thanks bud, this is juuust great,” Hiccup snipped, but relaxed into the forced position anyway.</p><p>Astrid, Valka and Eret found him an hour later, not sleeping, really. With his eyes half-open it was more like meditation. Astrid delivered a soft – but firm – kick to his ribcage. Toothless refused to move though, when Hiccup made to get up. He flopped back down in defeat, arms splayed. “The reptile won’t let me.” He announced.</p><p>“C’mon you big baby, you have to face it eventually.” Astrid kicked him again. This time Toothless crawled off of Hiccup, albeit rather hesitantly. “Traitor,” Hiccup shot at the dragon as he rose and dusted himself off.</p><p>“Wanna talk about what happened there mate?” Eret asked gently. “No actually, I’d like to go back home and live in peace as per the treaty.” Hiccup shot back.</p><p>“Oh brilliant! What a brave and impressive chief you are!” Astrid poked him hard in the chest. “The Dragon Master who ran,” she mocked.</p><p>“I cant do it!” Hiccup shouted, still pent up with unidentified emotions. “He – he disowned me! I spent my whole life trying to get him to see me and he just…he never did and now, now because mom bat her eyelashes at him he’s okay with dragons?”</p><p>“Hiccup-“ Valka reached forward, but he wasn’t finished.</p><p>“You’re not my son!” he spat, in an imitation of his father’s accent, “but now I am? Now that I’ve saved Berk he’s willing to acknowledge me? He sent Snotlout to arrest me! He – mom, how can I just forgive him?” Hiccup turned to Valka, his expression sad and open, “how can…how can he forgive me?”</p><p>Valka wasted no time in pulling her son into an embrace. “Hiccup, that’s what we do. We admit we were wrong and then we move forward. We learn, we grow. I left him too, we’re all at fault.”</p><p>“I just…I can’t face him, not yet.”</p><p>Eret cleared his throqat awkwardly at that. “Well…” Hiccup narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him. “Well shit, mate, it’s not like I’m ever going to get the chance to reconcile with mine,” He defended before gesturing at his Rumblehorn, Skullcrusher, sheepishly.</p><p>Stoick raised his arm in a half-hearted wave from the saddle, and Hiccup collapsed dramatically back to the ground, a delighted Toothless following him.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I. can't. write. heavy. stuff. apparently.<br/>I'm sorry. I am not happy with this, but here it is anyway.<br/>You've all been so supportive and encouraging over the course of this series and I just want to thank you all so much! One more to go; give or take some extra Dagur if I feel inspired.</p><p>A quick explanation; yes, Hiccup prefers diplomacy to war, but, when it comes to actually facing his own emotions, or his past (i.e his dad) he's been running away from that for five years. So to write a quick "it's all good now," felt insincere. Hope that makes sense? </p><p>Also, this instance, I imagine Stoick being the narrator of the lyrics in the summary. </p><p>As always, this is not edited.</p><p>Come find me on tumblr: https://tinyfeministpixie.tumblr.com/</p></blockquote></div></div>
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